Lightning
by Ignus R
Summary: Zuko took the lightning for her that day, and it never stopped worrying her. She had good reason- a healer always does. Set after Sozin's comet, all canon pairings hold- but it's about Zuko and Katara still.
1. Chapter 1

_Welcome to my first ATLA fic! I hope you enjoy._

It really was too good to be true, and Katara had always silently feared as much- even from the beginning, even from the moment when he had leaned on her to get up and gaze at his screaming, frustrated, defeated sister.

It was in the tremor of the muscles, in the stagger of his gait, in the slight catching of his breathing as he tried in vain to reassure everyone he wasn't in any real pain. Anyone would chalk it up to the mere shock- getting shot with lightning is no little thing, whether you manage to half-redirect it or not- but Katara's senses as a healer told her that it was not just that.

But then, the day of Shozin's Comet ended, and Aang had won, and Fire Nation healers took care of Zuko prior to his coronation- and no alarm had been raised. Katara held her breath every time that Mai would come with news of him and anxiously searched the soon-to-be crowned Fire Lord's fiancée's face for worry or a spark of fear in her eyes, but there was none. And though Mai's face was often as expressionless as a doll's, Katara knew her eyes were not as masked as they had once been. That Iroh was his normal serenely jubilant self corroborated that no alarm of any sort had been raised about the Fire Lord Zuko's convalescing health.

After Zuko's coronation, Katara had almost convinced herself that she had been wrong- with Aang at his side, the young man had looked robust and confident, his full of hope, love and optimism for the first time in the brief time the Water Bender had known him.

And so, at Iroh's tea shop in Ba Sing Se not too much time after, Katara forced herself to push that lingering, stinging worry deep into the recesses of her mind and enjoy that she finally knew, felt _certain_, that Aang loved her and she loved him back. She let herself enjoy the tea healthy looking Zuko served her, laugh at Sokka's poor excuse for drawing, enjoy the music by Iroh, and finally walk out in the balcony as it became painted in the gold of the glorious setting sun, to make a promise to the Avatar and seal it, all with one silent, gentle, devoted kiss.

It was Aang that really broke the delicious embrace between them, his eyes searching hers with a slight frown.

"Will you now tell me what is troubling you, Katara?" he asked in that gentle yet demanding way that seemingly only the last Airbender could employ.

Katara considered denying what she had so studiously pushed back to be able to enjoy herself free of burdens, but staring into Aang's large grey eyes she felt unable to lie or refuse him.

"It's Zuko," she sighed, glancing at the tip of the sun disappearing over the horizon, one hand leaning against the banister of the veranda.

"Zuko?" intoned Aang, his frown deepening. "What about him?"

There was a slight edge of defensiveness in her – now official- boyfriend's voice made Katara glance at him. His body stance was relaxed, nothing like that night in the theatre.

"It's nothing like that," she said in such a simple manner that Aang relaxed immediately, not able to restrain a breath of relief. But then he frowned again.

"What, then? Did he do anything? Tell you anything? Because I'm sure-"

"No, no," Katara sighed, shaking her head. "It's about that lightning, Aang. The one he took for me."

Aang stayed silent just when Katara direly wished he would speak, for she didn't know how to go on.

And then, she didn't have to.

There was a shriek from inside the tea shop that tore the peaceful cadence of the crickethoppers all around them in the flora, as dusk had set in.

Mai's shriek.

And then Iroh's voice calling something desperately, but Katara didn't really need to listen to know it was a plead. She rushed inside along with Aang, and immediately Suki and Sokka parted the little ring they had formed with Toph around Mai and a hunching Iroh, to let her through, to let her see.

Zuko was collapsed on the floor, limp as a rag doll, one hand weakly clutching at his chest, his ashen face slightly grimacing as tremors controlled his body.

"Oh, no! What happened?" Aang's voice seemed to come from far away, although Katara knew he was still right there next to her, expecting her to step forward and help him, help their friend.

Katara knew in that instant, that what she had feared, was now taking place.

And though she rushed forward, hand going at the water at her belt, her heart sank with chagrin.

_And this ends part 1! This is a little something that bugged me so much I couldn't stack in the fiction waiting cue any longer. To be able to complete my other story and move on, I simply MUST tinker with ATLA some. _

_Just how many of you felt that the healing of Zuko after taking (even part of) Azula's lightning was WAY TOO DARN FAST? Especially considering Aang's experience (despite him taking all the brunt of it)… it just wouldn't let me leave it alone like I do other little nags in stories and cartoons I read and watch. _

_So here is a 3-part story (that is 3 chapters) exploring and explaining away the miraculous insta-heal._

_Story follows canon (sorry all those rooting for other pairings) the way my stories generally do. _

_I hope you will enjoy it anyway! _


	2. Chapter 2

_And here is part 2! Thanks for all those who are watching or faving this, and especially those who took the time to comment._

/

Zuko had seconds to live if she wasn't quick- she knew it the moment she took in his face distorted by the pain, the unnatural limpness of his limbs, and the difficulty breathing. Everyone was asking her what the matter was, what was happening, but she had no time.

"Give me some space! Stop all this racket _NOW!_" she nearly screamed, and the room fell silent so quickly that her voice lingered in the air as she grabbed Zuko's robe and yanked it open so violently that it nearly tore the belt.

Her hand was already coated in water as she placed it firmly up against his star shaped burn mark where Azula's lightning had hit him. It was just like Aang's, that scar, though lighter and less severe because the new Fire Lord had managed to still redirect a good part of the lightning away from his heart- but not all.

The moment she began the healing, her senses were violently invaded by the agony of a body suddenly, irrevocably, imploding on itself. Death was coming swiftly and the Water bender groaned under the waves of pain that coursed up her hands, burning her, tearing at her, threatening her with the never ending darkness- _no, not me. It is HIS sensations that I am feeling. _

The water seeping in Zuko's body in vain tried to control the irregularly beating heart, and a big part of it threatened to evaporate under the sheer heat of the fever suddenly spiking, adding to the heavy demand for Zuko's soul to depart. For one overwhelming moment, Katara battled, trying to encase the heart as she had already been shown, trying to soothe and cool, but the raging inferno that each heartbeat fueled in Zuko's chest only became worse, and worse and _worse…!_

"Argh!" cried Katara and reflexively her hands pulled away from Zuko, who groaned without regaining consciousness, without moving, without getting better. She turned her palms up, and saw the skin there red and angry, as if she had been trying to touch coals.

"No," whispered Mai, her expression shifting for a moment, fingers clenching helplessly as she realized that the healing hadn't ended, it was interrupted. Iroh gripped Katara's arm, as she was panting, shocked and frightened:

"Don't give up on him, Katara. I beg you. I _beg_ you!" she blinked into the old man's eyes that were so haunted with pain which had never healed. They were red rimmed and wild with fear. "Please, Katara, help him. Don't let this son be taken from me too."

"I…" Katara stammered, her own heart thundering in her chest. She wasn't giving up! She wouldn't let Zuko die!

"What can I do, Katara?" Aang's voice was low, yet clear and supportive.

_Get your act together. You are letting him slip through your fingers!_

"Aang," she said, "make sure- make sure the air keeps getting in his lungs. I… I will do the rest."

_Please, Zuko, forgive me._

The Avatar nodded his assent, and breathing in himself, his eyes flashed lightning white once as he called upon the knowledge of all his past lives to ensure he did it, and did it right. Gently, he carefully began coaxing Zuko's lungs to keep inflating and deflating, the air saturating the young man's blood and filling it with oxygen. It left Katara to use all her energy to bend the one thing she was always too afraid to bend.

Her fingers splayed and seemed to knit the air as she grit her teeth, and Zuko seemed to turn on his side by his own accord- but everyone knew it was not him, but Katara who was bending his blood the same way Aang was bending the air entering through his nostrils.

It was enough to bring tears to Mai's eyes. She had never seen Zuko so dreadfully helpless, a puppet with no strings at the mercy of anyone but his own self, and still weezing and coughing meekly as the air he was so dependent on right now was also choking him. The sheer sight of her loved one, the one she had been willing to die for back at the Boiling Rock, so close to death with her able to do nothing turned her heart colder than ice, and she had to shut her eyes to even manage not to crumble next to him.

Iroh, on the other hand, was staring with desperate hunger upon the scene, watching Katara bloodbend Zuko and hoping beyond hope that it would be enough, enough to see his nephew open his eyes again, even just a crack. Zuko's head was turned heavily to the side, and it was his scarred side that was showing, the gnarled and twisted flesh in high relief upon the pallid face that had turned ashen while it retained its dead crimson colour. Iroh grit his teeth, thinking of Ozai and how he had mangled Azula's mind the way he had mangled his son's face. _Ozai, if Zuko dies at Azula's hands, it is you who will follow him, and in exactly the same way. _

Katara was drenched in sweat right now, not unlike Zuko himself, and for the longest time she feared that if she released her control on the blood, the firebender would die. How could such devastation happen so suddenly? It was everywhere in his chest, flooding the heart and threatening the lungs, gushing with pressure from the severed main artery of his heart, filling his body in a way that frightened her. It was her, and only her, that was now demanding that this blood seep back into the great artery, and stay there, pump forward with every irregular heartbeat.

"Don't hesitate, Katara," Aang said gently as he kept bending the air as she had asked. She didn't dare turn to look at the Avatar lest she lose the concentration needed for the extremely delicate bending she was doing. Zuko's life was literally in her hands now, just like hers had been that horrible day of his Agni Kai. Aang's encouragement was bolstering her now as the Avatar continued to speak: "Don't hesitate. You are the one who brought me back. You are the healer that didn't let the avatar circle break. You will also save the Fire Nation's chance for redemption. Don't hesitate- heal what there is to be healed."

Katara didn't reply. She simply nodded and breathed out.

_I am so sorry, Zuko, for this pain._

Pushing her hesitation and fear aside, she closed her mind off to compassion for what she was going to cause to Zuko, so that she would be able to save him. Her fingers jerked forward aggressively, and Zuko groaned, the pain forcing him to break through the unconsciousness, and still his body didn't jerk to the pain.

"Zuko!" Iroh gasped, not daring hope more or smile. Zuko's eyes were glazed with pain and all he did was gag against Aang's constant airbending as he also tried to yell.

And Katara was deaf to it all. She didn't hear Zuko's agony, she didn't see his tortured face and the widening of his eyes to the point even his fused eyelids were widening. All she heard was the heartbeat, all she saw was the artery she had to seal, and the blood she had to keep within it while she did it.

The time seemed to stand still and nobody had moved from their positions, watching, hoping, pleading with the spirits, and wincing at the yelling of the new Fire Lord that he could not control.

But in the end it was all over, and Aang stopped the airbending, Katara the bloodbending, and Zuko the screaming. His face eased with relief, and breathed with a tired sigh on his own.

"Nephew! Zuko!" Iroh gasped, gently cupping the lad's face as he wiped the sweat with his wide sleeve off.

"Un…uncle," Zuko's voice was hoarse, but he was there, and he wasn't dying any more. His eyes traveled to Mai in a silent plead, and she immediately took his hand.

Only then did Zuko look at Katara and Aang, and smiled softly again with emotion that implied how he still didn't believe that anyone would fight with Death so fiercely over just him.

"Th…ank you, Katara…Aang," he added laboriously. Aang grinned in relief and Suki scrambled into action, to call for help and further assistance from Zuko's entourage that was stationed not far away from the tea shop.

But Katara's eyes were stormy, and her expression closed. She forced herself to smile for Zuko.

"You have nothing to thank me for, Zuko," she said as lightly as she could make it- he didn't need to hear burden in her voice. "Sleep. You need to sleep, and have complete bed rest," she added, nodding to Iroh who picked Zuko up so gently that the young man almost didn't notice before he was lifted up.

As soon as uncle and nephew with fiancée were out of earshot, Katara turned to Sokka.

"We need Yagoda here. He can't travel, and he doesn't have much time. I need help if he is to survive."

Sokka nodded and didn't try to crack a joke at all.

"We'll send falcon right now. Katara, I thought we were done! Didn't you heal him?"

"I only patched him up so he won't die," Katara said gravely. "His condition is beyond just me."

"He will live," Toph spoke up only then, startling everyone with her mere presence. The blind girl's eyes were immobile but full of her emotions and determination. "He will live, because he wants to, and Zuko doesn't stop fighting until he succeeds."

But though she didn't shed any tears, everyone saw how she blinked far more than she ever had.

/

_And that's part 2 done! I hope you like it. I must admit that the whole water healing isn't too well explained in the cartoon, but I am adapting it to have some semblance of medical validity, even if it is fantastic medicine. _

_By the way, Zuko's condition actually exists, and is consistent with chest trauma and blood pressure irregularities, albeit a rare one. It is called Aortic Dissection, and if it is not immediately tended to, it's fatal. _

_But hey, he lives yet! ;) _

_**Review responds: **_

_**Insanely Irish: **__Thank you! Here's a fast update for you ;) _

_**Dragonwitch250**__: well, he is not dead… yet. _

_**Densharr**__: You are most welcome! I was kind of disappointed that there wasn't more drama. I suspect because they didn't want to fuel the whole Zuko-Katara pairing more, but strong, real friends can have drama and anguish over each other dying anyway. And there can be two of the opposite sex that are just good friends. _

_**Laytonsuperfan**__: Thank you! Here's a quick update :) Mai was taken aback, the way we shriek when jabbed when we least expect it, just as I analyzed in PM. Thank you for the review!_


	3. Chapter 3

_Welcome to part 3 of the story, everyone! I'd really appreciate to hear from everyone who has fav'ed or put on alert this little story! As always, my reviewers get special attention when the chapter ends ;) _

_/ _

Zuko woke, though he had not felt he had been at all asleep. His body had been battling with itself viciously all through his stupor, and there had been no rest. His chest felt heavy and loaded with heavy rocks, his lungs unwilling to use the breath he so painstackingly forced in them through tracts that hurt with every stimulus. He tried stirring. _Where am I? Have I been banished again?_ His tired mind was reeling, and for a moment, he expected to find himself in a ship, his face's left side heavily padded and bandaged, hiding the devastation underneath.

But he couldn't move, and the hands that stopped him from doing it were young and female- not the weathered fatherly touch of his uncle. Nonetheless, the pain lancinated through him and he barely managed to stop himself from crying out- the result was a soft groan.

"Don't move, Zuko," Mai's voice reached his ears, and he realized he hadn't yet opened his eyes. Mai's voice was calm and even as always, but Zuko could still hear a different tone in it that unsettled him. "Katara and the healers are preparing a tea for you, so it won't hurt."

He opened his eyes slowly, thankful that there was low lighting in the room at the back of the tea shop. He realized he was lying in soft bedding on a lush carpet, a much better arrangement than the last time he had been sick in a tea shop. Mai was sitting next to him, a bowl in her hands- but he didn't realize it was for him until she reached over and very gently removed the compress from where it was heavy and dried on his forehead. She dipped it in the water there with slow, careful movements.

Zuko found himself just staring at her while she was doing that, mesmerized and slightly bewildered- he couldn't understand what had landed him in this predicament. His mind reeled, trying in vain to piece together what had gone on, but all he remembered was laughing at Sokka's pictures and adding to the teasing while he was handling tea. After that, everything was a haze of pain and certainty that he was dead.

"Wh…what happened?" Zuko asked, his voice throaty and almost devoid of its resonance. "…I was refilling your tea, wasn't… wasn't I?"

Mai folded the compress again and placed it upon his forehead. Zuko shut his eyes in relief with a smile.

"That's… so good."

"You have a high fever, but I am happy you woke. The healer said you wouldn't, but Katara was sure you would, and you did."

Zuko was speechless for a moment, seeing how Mai's eyes watered- Mai simply didn't cry or show emotion that way. She and he communicated in actions more than words and emotions. Just what had happened? What could possibly have gone wrong _now_, after everything that went just right?

He raised his hand to touch hers, and tried to ignore how it was shaking slightly, choosing to focus on his fingers closing around hers. He smiled for her.

"Hey," he said softly, and Mai looked at him sorrowfully. "I wouldn't ever leave you, Mai. I'm here, not going anywhere."

But even as he said it, his heart traipsed dangerously, and a radiating pain began to spread radially from there and threatening to quench his breathing. Mai smiled and stroked his hair softly.

"I know," she said simply, her eyes speaking much more than she ever could with her voice. "I've always known, Zuko. But don't tire yourself. You need all your strength to conquer this."

Thankful for her prompting, for even just speaking was making him break a sweat, and tiredness was coming in waves, frowned as he watched Mai change the compress one more time, then excuse herself to call the healers in. Alone in the room now, he didn't need to put up a reassuring face for anyone. He hadn't felt his body so dreadfully heavy and uncooperative ever- not even when he had that fever. It frightened him that Mai hadn't told him what was wrong, it didn't spell anything good. Mai glossed over things when she feared her composure would break.

"Zuko!" it was Katara's voice this time. He turned his head to look at her. She was holding a cup with something steaming, and quickly rushed over to kneel next to him. But she wouldn't meet his eyes. "You're up! That's wonderful!"

"Katara," Zuko gestured tiredly with his hand. "You… don't need to pretend for me."

Katara bit her lip. Zuko glanced at her a little apprehensively. "The truth works best between us… doesn't it?"

Katara swallowed and busied herself for the longest time in helping Zuko sit up just enough to be able to drink the tea. She waited out the panting and the nausea the Fire Lord never admitted to weather, and dabbed the at his sweaty brow before putting the compress away. She secured the cup in his shaking hands.

"Here, drink this, and afterwards, you will need to rest again."

"Katara," Zuko did his best to look stern, but he suspected he only looked flushed and exhausted. "I'm going to drink this, and you'll tell me what's going on. Am I dying?"

"No!" Katara said so viciously he had to blink at her for a moment before he forced himself to raise the- inexplicably heavy- cup to his lips.

Katara looked to the side, biting her lips.

"No," she repeated. "You're not dying. We won't allow it."

Zuko just sipped. Katara sighed.

"Your uncle with Aang have gone to get what is needed to complete your healing. See, what happened- nobody could really predict it would happen, but your artery- right above your heart- it… it ruptured. It filled your chest with blood, that's why you feel all the pain when you breathe and move… the… the tea will make this better."

Zuko was feeling like there was no more room for fluids in his body, but he forced himself to drink the medicinal tea to the end.

Katara took the cup and helped him lie down again, then she wrung her hands once before she said quietly:

"Be still now, for a moment, okay?"

Zuko nodded- the most he could do with all the nausea of moving around. Katara parted his night shirt to expose his scarred chest. She coated her hands with water from her flask and very gently, the water glowing upon the inflamed skin, she applied her healing power. Almost instantly, the constricting he hadn't even realized he had been feeling let up, and some of the rocks in his chest seemed to disappear.

Zuko sighed and smiled at her, but Katara turned away.

"Please, don't thank me. That was what you were going to do, wasn't it? You have nothing to thank me for."

Zuko would have just shrugged that off were it not for the saturated guilt he heard in his voice. Zuko was an expert in guilt- he had lived with it for so long that he could tell in an instant if anyone else was sporting it. And what he heard in Katara's voice was the acidic kind of guilt, that eats you from inside without even knowing about it. And though he was already feeling sleepy, the exhaustion pawing at the edges of his awareness, something tugged at his soul about Katara, that he shouldn't leave her with her thoughts like that.

"Of course I do," he pressed shifting slightly in the futon. "Why not thank you? You saved my-"

"No, Zuko- I didn't save your life. I put it in jeopardy," Katara said harshly. "If not for me, this condition in you would never have developed."

"You can't know that," Zuko tried to sound non-chalant, but it came out pathetically weak.

"Stop it," Katara huffed and wiped her eyes, then, looking for something to do, she began fumbling with the compress although with the tea Zuko didn't need it any more. "We both know that's a lie. If you hadn't taken Azula's lightning for me, this would never have happened. It was my own damn fault! I shouldn't have been in the plaza, or damn it, anywhere where she could see me. I should have thought she would try to play dirty and use me."

Zuko tried to breathe in better, but chose against it. It was hard work to keep himself focused, to watch Katara beat herself up over him. _Ironic, really- once I'd have liked to see her feel this way about me, and wallow in guilt._

"Listen," he tried to make his voice strong. Katara stopped, but still didn't gaze at him. "Look at me, Katara."

_And please do it now, before I pass out._

It only took a breath's time for her to raise her deep, vibrant eyes to meet his own, but to Zuko's rapidly depleting energy it felt like a century. He breathed in.

"I'd do it anytime, all over again. We're friends, Katara. Wouldn't you do it for me, too? For Toph, or Suki, let…" he breathed in, "let alone Aang or Sokka?"

"Yes, I would. I would, of course," Katara said so earnestly it nearly made Zuko grin- but he knew that he shouldn't laugh at her right now, no matter how amused or cute he found she sounded.

"Then… would you want me hating myself if you saved me? It was _war_ Katara. That's all… all there is to it."

Zuko's voice had become weaker and weaker, and Katara realized he had been pushing himself to talk to her. _Idiot! You are supposed to be helping him, not the other way around._

"You're right, Zuko," she said as steadily as she could make it, and straightened the covers over him. "Rest now."

But Zuko had already lost consciousness, and aside the slight wheeze of his breath, rapid and shallow, he was quiet.

Katara's eyes watered again as she got up to leave him to rest. He looked terribly tired, and his complexion pale and flushed with fever again in the same time. She dipped the compress in water she bended to become cool again, and gently placed it upon his forehead.

_I'll do the same for you, Zuko, if it's the last thing I do._

_/ _

_Okay so there will be one more part to this story. Zuko wanted to talk and show off he has the mettle to be a good leader. XD I hope you like it, though it is more chatty and emotion/angst/guilt filled than anything… Between Katara and Zuko, one can't expect anything else since one of them can't bend at the moment. XD_

_Laytonsuperfan: You're welcome :) _

_Insanely Irish: Thank you! I hope you like this one, too!_

_Omega19x: No, you are definitely not. Thank you! I hope you like this installment, too._

_Ayame of the Azuma: Thanks! I hope you won't mind canon though._

_Things24: Thanks! He still lives. _

_Dragonwitch250: Well, he's working on it. He's a fighter, even when bedridden. _


	4. Chapter 4

_And here is part 4 of the story! Thanks for all the lovely reviews. Keep 'em coming! _

_Say, who would like me to write a Find Ursa story? _

_/ _

The moment Katara stumbled out of Zuko's room, she felt the tears that had been prickling at her eyes brim, scorching and punishing down her cheeks. She covered her hand with her mouth to muffle the sob.

"What? Is he dead?"

The question was said quietly and with Sokka's usual forceful anxiety. Katara shook her head and tried to set her shoulders to force herself to get a grip.

"No, he isn't. He's holding on."

"Then why the tears now?" Sokka frowned. "Things will work out, they always do."

"No, Sokka, they don't always do," Katara said sharply, walking away from the door and towards the tea shop's kitchen. It was the safest bet that nobody would be in there. Sokka frowned to himself a little before trailing after his sister.

"Is he worse, then?"

"Not really. Probably more tired because _fool_ that I am, I tired him out talking. Do you know what he told me, Sokka?"

Sokka had the sinking feeling that he would find out. His eyes searched his sister's face. Katara turned away, tinkering away in the kitchen with pots and pans just so her hands would be able to do something other than strangle her own self. She sighed.

"He begged me not to feel guilty of what happened. He tried to _prove_ to me I shouldn't feel guilty." She smirked in mirthless irony. "The one who once was the face of the enemy to me actually tried to support _me_ while he was _in pain_."

"Zuko is the kind of guy who'll do that," another voice said gently, making the siblings flinch and turn to look. It was Mai, who was leaning against the doorframe, arms folded while she was holding a scroll. "He has more compassion than he would like to admit- the scar on his face is proof of that."

Katara shivered, considering the story she had only recently learnt about how Zuko had gotten the scar, and she felt even worse, unable to look Mai in the eyes, just like she had been unable to do so with the ailing firebender.

"Zuko is amazing," Katara admitted, trying to make her voice even like Mai could. "Aang saw that in him right away."

"The avatar is amazing, too," Mai conceded, and Sokka wondered just what the Fire Lady to be was really doing. Offering Katara some support or attacking her indirectly by guilting his sister through talking about Zuko?

He had no chance to find a way to test his theory, because Mai held up the rolled up scroll.

"The falcon has returned."

Katara immediately took it and unrolled it, and immediately her face fell, her lips shaking with weeping once again.

"Yagoda isn't coming," she said in a toneless voice. "She says it will be no use."

"What?" Mai's eyes flashed with rage. "Is it no use to try and heal the only Fire Lord to date who will not call the likes of her _peasant trash?_"

"You don't understand," Katara said a little more sharply than she had intended, "Yagoda isn't coming because there isn't enough _time_ or _purpose_. If we don't do what will heal Zuko really soon, he will die by tomorrow night."

Mai paled visibly, and Sokka felt he had no breath. Katara's knuckles around the scroll had become white.

Katara took a deep breath, and this time she didn't bother to control her tears.

"She says… she says that the Spirit Water may help… but if Aang's journey in the Spirit World for an answer doesn't yield results, an injury like… like what Zuko sustained for me… is… is always fatal."

"Iroh will be back with it," Sokka tried to make his voice light and optimistic. "And Aang is the avatar! He won't fail."

"No, he won't," it was Mai who said so, surprising Katara into looking up. Mai's features were stern, hard as if set in stone. Scenarios of threatening reasons why Aang could not afford to fail seemed to play out before Mai's shielded eyes, but the young woman didn't voice them, and allowed for her words to hang in the air with the frigidity of a potential death sentence.

"Are all of you done grieving for Zuko before he's even dead?" Toph's voice was especially harsh, and everyone flinched.

"Shut it Toph! You don't know the half of it," Katara growled, watching as the blind girl stomped into the kitchen for a glass of water.

"I know that Twinkletoes is alone, zoned out in the main room, Sweetness, so you'd better go there so Suki can stretch her legs a bit as well."

Katara was somewhat affronted that Toph was once again ordering her around, but she found herself obeying with relief she hadn't expected. Being there in the same room with Mai, knowing that _she_ was responsible for Zuko's condition with a prognosis that was looking dimmer by the moment, suddenly became so stifling that she couldn't breathe.

And so she fled, and rushed out into the main room of the tea shop, where Aang was meditating, oblivious to the real world while his spirit searched for an answer in the Spirit World. Iroh had ordered the shop closed, and Zuko's guard was stationed around it. Looking around that the empty chairs and tables, Suki perched near the window and only Aang sitting crosslegged on the table in the middle, his tattoos and eyes eerily glowing upon his otherwise still form, she felt bereft and helpless, weak beyond belief. _Zuko did what he had to, and saved you from an impossible attack, back at the plaza. How on earth did he even manage to reach the lightning bolt in time, let alone manage to block and redirect it? Even Iroh can't yet understand how his nephew redirected even the amount he did, the way he threw himself between us, but Zuko did it, and you are here alive. _

_When are __**you**__ going to do what you have to, and save him from this impossible condition that is __**your fault anyway**__?_

"Katara."

She jerked herself awake with a start, horrified that she had nodded off.

"Oh no! Zuko! I need to check on him, is it—"

"Katara! Stop! It's me, just me, Aang! Look at me for a moment, will you?"

It was almost an impossible effort to tame her racing heart to look into the avatar's light grey eyes that were always, even now, full of optimism.

"Aang!" she cried out, gripping at his hands that were now at her shoulders. "You are back! How much time has passed, I- I don't know how I could have dropped off-"

"You are extremely tired, Katara, that's all," Aang said lightly with a small tight smile. "But Suki here says you only closed your eyes for a while, and you needed it."

"Mai has been with Zuko, anyway," Suki provided readily, "and since all is quiet, I think he's still holding on just fine."

But Katara's mind was already on her task.

"So?" she asked hungrily. "Did the Spirits tell you how we can save him?"

Aang cringed a little.

"Well… they said …_stuff_… about how to do it."

"Tell me!" Katara felt like shaking Aang for the first time. "Will the Spirit Water do it?"

"The Spirit Water is definitely _part_ of what you need," Aang nodded vigorously. "Everyone kept telling me that."

"…but it won't be that simple, will it?" Sokka was the one to say it, and Katara realized that everyone had converged to the main room except Mai.

Aang sighed and shook his head.

"They kept saying that _power_ is needed along with the Water. The Healing power of all four elements."

"Then maybe you should be the one to do it," Toph jabbed Aang with her elbow. "Don't you control all four, o avatar?"

"Maybe, but I'm no Healer. It took everything I had and three past avatars' experience just to keep Zuko breathing," Aang cringed a little worriedly. "I couldn't possibly do something that might end up killing him faster. And all the Spirits were telling me to keep away from Healing until I'm, like, thirty." Aang looked both embarrassed and confused by that stipulation.

Katara paced, gesturing irritably at everyone.

"Fine. Fine, just let me think about it a moment," she muttered. Aang sighed.

"Katara, all the Spirits kept telling me that you were the one to do it. Just… with all elements."

"What? But I am no avatar!" Katara groused. "What the hell is that supposed to mean? I can only bend water!"

"What is all that racket?" Mai's voice was heard from the door. "You are making Zuko nervous."

"He's awake?" Aang asked hopefully. Mai nodded.

"Yes, he is," her expression almost didn't shift. "Trying to convince me he isn't in pain."

Katara hissed.

"I'll come alleviate that immediately."

Entering Zuko's room with Mai in tow and a cup of fresh water, Katara felt like her mind was on fire but she couldn't puzzle out the Spirit riddle. _Incompetent as well as stupid,_ her self harshly commented as she smiled for Zuko, kneeling down at his side. He turned his head slowly to look at her through heavy lidded eyes.

"Mai won't believe me," he said, a slight attempt at banter, "that I am not made of sugar these days."

"Well, you aren't as bitter, that's probably why," Katara forced herself to smile as she parted his tunic again to perform the healing to ease Zuko's breathing and quench his pain.

It wasn't long before Zuko breathed again, and looked at Katara thankfully, but he didn't say anything as he noticed her flinching at the mere hint that he was about to thank her. Instead, as Katara was readjusting his clothing, he asked:

"Is my uncle back yet?"

"Not yet," Katara said, not liking the tone of his voice. "Why do you ask?"

"Nothing much," sighed Zuko, shifting on the bed a little uncomfortably. "But do you think he'll be back soon?"

Before Katara could answer, it was Mai who leaned forward, cupping Zuko's cheeks that were still so pale and yet too warm with fever, despite the tea. Her expression was almost wild.

"You listen to me," she said sternly. "You don't care how much your uncle takes to return, because _you have time_. Do you understand me? You aren't going anywhere. Remember, you promised me, Fire Lord!"

Zuko winced and even managed to flush, embarrassed and taken aback that he had been found out. It horrified Katara that Mai had been right in inferring the firebender's thinking behind his question- _Zuko wants a chance to say goodbye to Iroh before he dies…! _

"Mai is right, Zuko!" Katara heard herself saying when in reality she wanted to scream. "You aren't going anywhere- Aang went into the Spirit World for you, and we know how to cure you now. You will be just fine. Okay? Just fine!"

Zuko frowned a bit in disbelief, side glancing at her to see if maybe she wasn't giving out false hope, but Katara strongly forced herself to look him in those feverish, golden eyes, and tell him with determination and assurance:

"The truth works best between us, you said, and I agree. Aang told me what to do, and I will do it- and you will be fine, with all the time in the world."

Zuko found himself smiling besides himself, and his glance softened as his shoulders relaxed into the mattress. _He believes me. He is trusting me. Oh, Spirits, he has just trusted me that I will save him!_

"Okay, Katara," Zuko smiled, knitting his hand with Mai's. "I've got time."

And Katara just nodded, and walked out of the room with limbs that seemed made of wood.

/

_And that's that! Part 5 is going to end this little story, __**guaranteed**__. :P But I couldn't help letting everyone else in on the interactions. _

_Things24: Thank you! That was the intention :)_

_Zutaraforeverkataangnever: Here's the update, and Zuko said something to her. Sometimes the toughest isn't romance, but friendship ;) _

_Gymnast3: Thank you! I generally follow canon for my stories, so expect very strong bonding between Zuko and Katara, but his heart is Mai's. They go a long way back together._

_A5h13y 101: Thank you! I got tired of searching for one myself, so I decided to write it. _

_Sokkantylee: Here is the update, and thank you so much for your delectable review! I thoroughly enjoyed reading it. And while Mai may not offer herself much to cartoon expressiveness, she does make some pretty powerful attestations of her love for Zuko in the canon story, in my opinion. _

_Catstop: will do!_

_Zolarix Aster: I might, if I am given material to write out, or I get inspired to do so :) _

_Dragonwitch 250: Here it is! I hope you like it. _


	5. Chapter 5

_And here it is! This was written to the music of the cartoon soundtrack. It is surprisingly good, by the way! _

_/ _

Katara found herself face to face with Aang as she walked out of Zuko's room, blocking her path. Her lips were pressed into a thin line, his glance too serious for his actual thirteen years of age-for the first time, he looked truly adult and weighed down by a century to her eyes.

"I heard what you told Zuko," he said. "I didn't mean to eavesdrop, by they way- I just heard you and Mai talking and opted not to enter."

Katara just stared at him, watching Aang's expressive face shift from a little sheepish to grave again.

"So… were you telling the truth or were you lying?"

"Couldn't Toph tell you?" scoffed Katara and tried to shoulder past him. Aang didn't let her.

"I am asking _you_."

Toph chose that moment to elbow through.

"Make way, lamers. I'm going to keep Sparky some real company, instead of having all you thickheads remind him he's surrounded by morons who are only good at crying all the time," she said in her loudest, most provocative voice as she nearly kicked the door to Zuko's room, and shut it behind her with a bang. Mai's protestations and some low-tone hints of chuckle soon ensued from inside, and Katara felt grateful for the little earthbender for a change, because with her distraction, it would be certain Zuko or Mai wouldn't be able to listen in to her talk with Aang, even though they were standing so near their room.

And Aang was still looking at her expectantly, as if he hadn't even heard Toph.

Katara's shoulders sagged a little.

"I want to be telling the truth."

Aang nodded and smiled.

"Good; then you are. You need Spirit Water- that is fact. Iroh is bringing it. The healers' tea and your little healings will keep him alive until then, no matter what Yagoda says."

"But Spirit Water is not enough," huffed Katara, keeping her voice down just in case Toph's giggling wasn't enough.

Aang bended water from the kitchen into an orb, and, with it hovering between his hands, he looked at Katara with a calm, confident smile.

"When I was too frightened to firebend, and went with Zuko to the Dragons, the answers came to me by _looking_ into the element I was so afraid of and couldn't master. Perhaps it's time for you to do the same."

He tossed the orb to her, and she instinctively caught it before it spilled into nothingness upon the floor. She frowned, puzzled.

"Look at the water? But-"

"Not just look at it, but _into_ it," Aang said grinning widely. "You want to heal the sun with it. So take that ball of water out now, while the sun is setting, and _really look_ in it until the sun rises again- and your element will give you the answers on its own."

Katara frowned, a little hesitant.

"Did the Spirits tell you that?"

"No, this is Avatar Aang's advice on the matter," Aang giggled. But then he got serious again. "The Spirits only said to use the power from all the elements, and that you should do it. So I guess you can do that by waterbending, and so your element will show you how, just like the fire taught me how not to fear it."

Katara set her shoulders and nodded. It that was what it took, then that was what she'd do.

/

Iroh hated riding lizardy beasts and flying, but in a few short hours he had done both, along with the nation officer that he trusted to help with his speed instead of hinder it. Going to get the Spirit Water, speaking with everyone necessary, having to say what the matter was with Zuko, receiving three full vials of it along with words of compassion and hope- it had all gone extremely smoothly, well and fast.

But to Iroh it was all a blur, and he remembered nothing of it, except the guarded look of the waterbenders that just didn't want to tell him how hopeless his nephew's predicament was, and the sighs of sadness and pity when they thought too soon he was out of earshot. It haunted him just like Zuko's soft gasping breaths, as he left him still unconscious half a day ago. He had to make it in time. Zuko couldn't die.

His eyes seemed riveted to the sun's course the whole time of his journey, a relentless timer of his nephew's life that wouldn't stop pushing. He had made the journey so fast that his companion had had to send falcon ahead to have ready other beasts to switch lest Iroh forced Appa to fly to death- but he had managed to get the Spirit Water within a day. As the sun was setting, he was already rushing on his way back to where the flying bison would be waiting for him to fly him back to his tea shop.

"Sir, we need to halt," his companion was repeating to him for the umpteenth time, but Iroh didn't even both to answer, and just egged the lizard on.

"Sir!" the Fire Nation officer cried out, making Iroh finally growl at him, eyes flashing.

"What is it?"

The officer shuddered. The only time Iroh seemed to resemble his defeated brother Ozai was now, in his experience, that the new Fire Lord's life was at stake. The officer didn't understand it. Were the nephew to die, he would be up next for the throne, thus restoring a birthright long since stolen. He could even start a new dynasty, if he were willing, since many Fire Nation women definitely would be regardless of Iroh's age.

Why, then, was he so anxious to save the life of one contender?

But Iroh was looking at him, and he rushed to answer.

"Sir, we need to stop even for a few minutes-"

"You stop," Iroh hissed through clenched teeth, knuckles white around the reins. "And rest all you want. Don't even think about returning to the Fire Nation- you are banished, and be glad I just don't have the time to burn you to a crisp."

And with that, Iroh pushed the lizard he was riding to leap forward, quickly putting distance between him and the startled officer.

Iroh's eyes watered as she pressed on, passing one hand over the vials hanging in a special pouch at his side. _Zuko, my boy, please hold on. You need to live so that you will teach your generation to be less treacherous and dishonourable than mine. Please. _

It wasn't long before his thoughts strayed to Lu Ten and how he had been forced to look upon the body of his son, ravaged by Dai Li arrows. The healers had of course removed the shafts before showing the dead prince to his father, but they had done nothing for the punctures or the blood, still caked upon Lu Ten's armor, neck and face. Iroh let out an audible sob. He had almost killed himself that day, but the duty of giving his son the funerary pyre he deserved properly in their homeland held him at the time- and then somehow things happened too fast, and Ursa left, Ozai was Fire Lord and Lu Ten was looking up at him with eyes full of fear and hope.

_It wasn't Lu Ten, but then Zuko always had looked so much like him at that age… and the boy needed someone to be parent to him so desperately._

And so Iroh had postponed his suicide, promising Lu Ten that he would do it and join him in the spirit world just the moment he was free of being Zuko's real guardian, just the moment when Zuko would be his own person, and not someone shriveled, twisted and tortured at the whim of his brother's debasement. As he was hopping off the lizard and upon the sky bison, it occurred to Iroh that he had been content to watch Zuko be finally actualizing his potential, having gone through thick and thin to find his way _and_ defend it to the ones so few children ever manage, and though he had been free of being his guardian, the thought of killing himself to join Lu Ten had not crossed his mind. _Lu Ten, my son, have I betrayed you? Is this my punishment because I forgot myself, feeling happiness in the world that doesn't hold you any longer?_

Iroh swallowed and shook his head to rid himself of these thoughts, the way a dog would to throw off water. Lu Ten had always been a kind soul, a kind spirit, one that has always been with him, giving him strength in ways only he, Lu Ten's father, knew and had never confessed to anyone else, because it was nobody else's business. Lu Ten wouldn't want his cousin to die because his father is a dotard- and Iroh knew, as he had always known in his heart, that Lu Ten would not approve of Iroh going to meet him before his time upon the earth was done properly, and not by his own hand. _I am sorry, my son. My grief and fear nearly caused me to blame you unfairly, and disregard your love to me, and Zuko. You and him are my family, and I promise you, I will be the one to join you first, while he lives on to do what we both know he can, and will._

Appa grunted then, sailing tirelessly into the night, as if somehow he could hear Iroh's thoughts, and agreed with them.

/

Katara had been watching the floating ball of water in front of her for nearly all night- with short interruptions for small healing sessions to ensure Zuko's breathing didn't become too difficult and the artery still held until Iroh returned. It had been beautiful, silvery and sleek, its slightly rippling surface playing with the moon, and after that the star light, but it revealed nothing that would be able to help her understand what the Spirits meant.

And it wasn't becoming any better- each time she went in, at Mai's call, to help the ailing firebender she realized he was a little bit worse, a little bit weaker, and the healing was a little bit harder to achieve than the time before. She hadn't said so, of course, but she suspected Zuko had noticed if not Mai. He was making every effort not to fall asleep, talking with his fiancée in soft, gentle tones. Once, upon entry, Katara heard Zuko argue about wedding garments and children, and Mai looked both flushed and in the same time stricken with heartache- Zuko himself was grinning, albeit weakly, allowing himself the makebelief that he was not deteriorating.

And still, he tried his hardest not to sleep, because everyone in the tea shop knew that if that happened, he would most likely not wake up again.

And still, the water globe she bended to float in front of her outside in the veranda, revealed nothing to her that she didn't know. But she wouldn't give up. She couldn't give up- everyone was relying on her to do it, even Aang who seemed so confident she'd get whatever it was she was supposed to get, that he was sleeping deeply outside, on the same veranda, Momo's tail wrapped snugly around his neck.

Then, just before dawn, while the dark sky was giving into the soft pastels of the brand new day, Zuko's eyes slipped closed in mid sentence, scaring Mai for the few moments before she realized he was still breathing- and it had been the hardest healing yet, and it didn't make the new Fire Lord wake.

Katara stumbled out into the veranda again- Aang was inside now pep-talking Mai, Toph and Suki- tears once more rolling down her cheeks and she made the orb of water float between her trembling palms once more, trying desperately not to bawl by biting down on her lower lip.

_Oh, Spirits, please, help me! I am doing all I can, I will do more than that- just tell me how, and I will do it! _

For a few moments, nothing seemed to happen, and Katara just kept the water bended into that infernal ball that played with her eyes and revealed nothing- but then, the sun's tip kissed the mountaintops in the horizon, and golden light spilled like a rejuvenating wave over all creation.

The sun rays went right through her infuriating ball of water, and the water bended them in thousands of beautiful colours- Katara gasped, and lifted the ball of water higher, making it larger.

It was the first time that water _spoke_ to her, under the light that had given it _speech_.

/

The sun had risen.

Iroh grit his teeth, knowing time had nearly run out. He didn't remember the pleasantries of the benders in the oasis, but he did remember one line- _Ride fast, for time is the murderer you must first beat. _

"Faster, Appa," he nearly barked at the beast. Appa grumbled irritably, making Iroh sigh. "Please, Appa!"

The sky bison beat its tail powerfully once, and Iroh's heart picked up in beats. There was Ba Sing Se! If only Katara…! But she must have, the healer he left with her had made abundant doses of the necessary tea, so she must have!

"Good, Appa, good! I'll tell the avatar how great you are," he said, patting the bison but he was really egging it on to go even faster.

His hand then went to the pouch with the Spirit Water vials- they were there, very safe.

He was back. Flying over Ba Sing Se, he picked out his tea shop by the band of red armor that was the guard, and Appa rushed there, speeding up with the promise that he could finally rest, and maybe be petted by Aang for his feat of flying.

It was Appa's grumble that brought everyone out in the veranda, where Katara was still staring with mesmerized eyes into the water, and as the exhausted sky bison landed heavily, Aang, Toph, Sokka and Suki converged around Iroh asking in various tones if he had been successful, but Iroh only asked:

"My nephew?"

Aang smiled, albeit thinly.

"He's here," he said in that meaningful arbitrariness that seemed to say everything without putting it in words, and Iroh swallowed. He nodded, and pulled out the three vials- they glistened like diamonds with the spirit water in their translucent bodies.

"Here- I …I was told this amount is far more than enough. Where is Katara?"

They only just then realized that Katara hadn't budged from her position in the corner of the veranda, holding the large water ball floating between her palms and looking at it, her pupils so dilated her eyes looked black.

Aang was unsure, as he approached, whether to bother her, but as he neared, she flinched to her senses, and the ball of water fell on the tiles, free of her bending.

"Katara?" he asked, gently helping her get up, but she was bubbling over with excitement.

"I know the answer, Aang! You were right! The answer _is_ in my element!" she said, and kissed him on the lips before bouncing off towards Iroh, wildly gesticulating that he should not worry any longer. Aang was left smiling, rooted on the spot for a few blissful moments, before Katara's hand yanked him to the small circle of benders that she had formed.

"We will heal Zuko once and for all from Azula's lightning," she said decisively, "and we will do it now. The Spirits were right- the Spirit Water is necessary, but we need to energise all the elements through it."

"That's more or less what Twinkletoes had already said, Sweetness," Toph sighed.

"How does that translate into action, Katara?" Iroh asked.

"Water is the giver of all Life," Katara said, "Just like all elements in their own way- and so it _contains_ all the other elements in it. In the Spirit Water, you must bend your element, and I will make sure it does remain in liquid form- and with that, I will heal Zuko."

The spark of optimism had finally returned to Katara's eyes, and it was only that which made Iroh believe in her, and decide to do exactly as she said.

/

_AAAAAARGH! I STILL DIDN'T MANAGE TO FINISH IT! _

_Basically I ran out of time to continue writing, and this was getting long anyway. But I think the story will defy all logic if it DOESN'T end with installment six! _

_It better finish or it will be sorry! XD _

_I don't have time to answer the reviews today, but I definitely will with the next update, (answer last chapter's and this one's), so PLEASE review if you please, and make my day! _

_Reviews make everyone happy :D_

_Anyway, I hope you like this one, even though Zuko isn't at all well yet. :p_


	6. Chapter 6

_HELLO and welcome to this story's FINAL PART! I swear it is!_

_Thank you for all the wonderful reviews, which I will answer at the end of this chapter, and I hope you enjoyed this little filler-story that lets Bryke get away with Zuko's insta-heal in the last episode. XD _

_/ _

Mai diligently kept refreshing the compress upon Zuko's brow, in an attempt to help control the fever that was threatening to spike despite the tea and Katara's healings, as well as to distract herself from realizing that Zuko wasn't simply very ill- he was dying. She kept blinking more often than usual, to hold in her tears as she took in her loved one's profile lying as he was before her in feverish stupor. Even his shallow, forced breathing was heard less and less, in that gentle lull towards oblivion that dying in one's sleep was.

_Just who are you holding your tears back for? He isn't awake to notice._ She swallowed as she removed the dried up cloth from Zuko's brow, and unconsciously dabbed at her own scorching eyes with it before dunking it in the bowl again.

"Damn you, Azula," she whispered into the air, and then, after a pause: "Damn you too, Katara! What the hell where you _thinking_, idiotic peasant?"

She bit her lip, feeling guilty the moment she had uttered that last damnation, knowing she was being unfair, knowing that Zuko would have jumped in front of anyone if his insane sister were shooting lightning at them to get to him. And the girl had been trying so much to save him all this time, Mai couldn't well keep her ire towards her. Sighing, she passed her hand once through Zuko's shaggy hair that was spilling around his head upon the pillow and swallowed, wondering just what she would do if Katara really _did_ fail, if she _did_ end up losing him the moment she had had him back. Mai just didn't want to think about that for too long.

She heard the commotion of Iroh's arrival outside, and general hubbub of words and news being exchanged, and for a moment she was torn between emerging to find out if new hope had arrived and staying with Zuko. She looked at him. He was paler than she ever remembered him to be, his closed eyes seeming sealed forever. Only his scar that marred the handsome features still stood out in the same dark colour of burned, branded flesh. His lips were parted slightly, to allow for his ever softening gasps. His head was weighing heavily into the pillow.

Mai swallowed again, glanced once more towards the door and then smiled softly.

"I'm not going anywhere, Zuko," she said in her usual calm tones. "If they have something to tell us, they'll get in here."

_I will not risk returning to find you gone._

True enough, it wasn't too long before the door burst open, Sokka erupting in the room with so much noise it nearly made Mai whip out her shuriken.

"Mai! We're gonna wake up your beau!" Sokka grinned, his voice scaling octaves on demand. "Well, _they_ are going to do it, Suki and I are here to just pin him down- or pin _you_ down, we'll see," he giggled incomprehensibly, and Mai peered past him hopefully, for someone more coherent to enter and tell her what was going on.

Everyone seemed to come in behind the Water Tribe warrior, spilling into the room and filling it to the point it felt too small. Iroh, Aang and Katara took positions around Zuko's prone form, and Toph shoved her way next to her.

"Move over, healing duty trumps moping duty," she said cheekily, and Mai still hadn't found her voice.

Aang smiled at her encouragingly, and Katara nodded to Sokka, who uncovered Zuko before kneeling by his head and pressing carefully on his shoulders in a tentative pin. Zuko didn't stir. Suki parted his night gown to expose the scarred chest once more. Then, she took hold of the firebender's ankles, making sure the feet were pointing away from her body.

Mai frowned.

"What are you going to do? Katara?"

"I am going to heal him, Mai," Katara said decisively. "But I don't know how much it will hurt, or what reaction there will be while I bend the Spirit Water to basically reconstruct his artery. So I need him pinned."

Mai paused for a moment, and realized she had taken a few steps back and was now away from where Zuko was, surrounded by the ones he had fought with not too many days ago. Everyone except her.

"Is… there anything I can do?" she asked too feebly for her liking, and Katara glanced at her, as if the tone of her voice had conveyed something more than just her words.

Katara's mind raced for a moment- she hadn't thought of Mai at all in her plan to save Zuko, but could she deny Mai's unspoken plea to help? Mai was a warrior just like all of them, and the stakes were the highest for _her_. She was the one who had pledged her life with Zuko's and had run the highest risk of losing it for him. Could she tell her to just wait in the sidelines?

"Do you want to take Suki's place?" she found herself saying, with Suki immediately jumping up to relinquish her position.

Mai said nothing, but hurried to kneel and hold Zuko's ankles firmly pinned upon the futon. The skin was clammy there, and hot. The pulse was not quite the same in the two legs.

Katara watched Suki go stand at the door. She breathed in. The moment of truth had come. Everyone had their instructions, everyone was as ready as they would ever be- and so was she.

She uncorked the three vials and bended the water into a glistening silvery orb. The room had stilled, but the air was crackling with tension. Katara glanced around, as if to ensure and reassure, finally locking her eyes once with Aang. He nodded in encouragement, and Katara set her shoulders and sent the Spirit Water to wrap around Zuko's chest. She flexed her fingers and the band of water tightened. Zuko groaned, his features animated by the stab of pain, but not waking.

She turned to Toph.

"Go on, Toph," she said. Toph nodded, and with a sudden movement clenched her fist, pulling it upwards roughly towards the water around the unconscious firebender. The water immediately turned a milky light brown under the earthbender's influence, the particles of earth in the water energizing and releasing their power within it.

Katara's eyes went to Iroh next. The Dragon of the West nodded and, while Toph was still bending her element, he shoved his splayed palm towards the water too, and though no flame erupted from it, the milkyness within the water seemed to combust, and even more power was catalyzed into force, the _power_ unleashed in it threatening to cause the water to evaporate. Katara groaned, the sensation of the bending shifting now as if she was stirring boiling water. She knew that if she lost even a little bit of concentration, the Spirit Water would evaporate.

She tightened the control over it, and with it tightened the band around Zuko, making him moan again and race for his breath.

The water was now looking like liquid fire more than anything else, for both Toph and Iroh were still bending their elements within the Water obeying Katara's will.

"Do it Aang!"

Aang waved his fingers gently towards the water, his gentle movement nothing like the sheer power he forced into the flaming liquid. The liquid fire shuddered, and Katara also shuddered, and the Spirit Water shifted and twisted under the simultaneous bending of four masters.

To Katara it felt as if the flesh upon her bones was boiling off while the Spirit Water, already far more powerful and difficult to control than regular water, now was becoming about a thousand times more …_elemental._ It took her all to keep it liquid, when every particle in it pushed against her will to be free and lost in the ethers. Sweat began trickling down her temples and back and the energy it took for her to keep control was nothing like she had before expended.

The Spirit Water looked like steam, though Katara knew it was still liquid.

It was Water encasing the power of all four elements, just like the Spirits had told Aang they should. It was the single most powerful thing Katara had come to wield.

And it was ready to be used.

She flexed her fingers in a twirling fashion, and the band of Spirit Water that could have been steam shivered in response.

"Upon my word," she whispered, "stop."

And she pulled her hand carefully back, causing the water to pull forward and Zuko to arch forward, and Sokka and Mai to tighten their grip to keep him pinned.

_Stop! _

Toph, Iroh and Aang abruptly stopped bending as Katara shoved forward, her hand nearly slamming against Zuko's chest, and the whole of the water was forced in his chest, around his heart, and through and around his artery.

Zuko's eyes snapped open, yelling in reflex at pain so harsh that the yell was unable to express it, and therefore died out. Only his mouth remained wide, still yelling although no sound was coming out. Mai whimpered, feeling the Zuko's flesh shudder under her hands, but she still kept him firmly against the futon and from thrashing and making Katara's task harder. Sokka had a much harder time, because the impact of the water being bended within made Zuko convulse violently along with his attempts to react against it.

Katara's eyes were wide and dilated as she bended the water to heal, and heal fast and wholly. The artery collapsed under the pressure, but the water wrapped around, not allowing the blood to spill over, and the elements alive in it coaxed the cells to reconstruct, build the artery anew. The heart lurched and sent waves of hurt to Zuko's every nerve end, forcing him to sense and experience all of the pain the reversal of his death demanded as payment.

If Sokka and Mai had not kept Zuko on the mattress, he would have flailed around helplessly like cloth in stormy water. But they held him fast, and so he only shuddered, heaving against their grip, and groaned more to manage to breathe rather than yell.

And then, it was suddenly over.

Zuko's body remained still upon the mattress, and Katara gently raised her palms- and no water followed them, fully consumed in the healing. Katara leaned forward, panting heavily, and Aang rushed to her, holding her gently by the shoulders. Iroh held Zuko gently upwards in an effort to see if he was breathing, if he was better, if he was saved. Sokka stood back, visibly shaken. Mai wrung her fingers, and forgot to wipe her eyes.

Zuko's eyes were shut again, and he looked ashen- and very, very dead.

"K-katara…" Toph's voice sounded young and frightened. "His… his heart isn't beating, Katara!"

"No, Zuko!" Iroh shook the lax body with one violent, desperate move as Katara was scrambling up- and it seemed that this was what was needed.

Reflexively, Zuko convulsed and made a painful, gurgling sound that Iroh read correctly, and immediately turned Zuko over. A geyser of blood erupted from his nephew's mouth, and all the dead blood and tissue spilled out, as the firebender retched, then heaved in deep breaths with hoarse gasps- but he blinked and shivered, and he was _awake._

"Zuko!" Iroh begged.

"Un…uncle," Zuko breathed, exhausted.

"You're okay! He's okay!" Mai said in the same time as Toph exclaimed:

"Got a strong heartbeat, Sweetness!"

Mai looked at Katara in thanks, though Katara was too busy crying out of relief to notice. Zuko stirred, trying to sit up, and Iroh helped him, even though his mind screamed to make his nephew lie down again.

"Katara…"

Zuko's voice was hoarse with yelling and heavy with the exhaustion of physical hardship, but it was _his_, and it was strong despite everything.

So she dared look up.

Zuko's eyes were heavy lidded still, but bright with health rushing back to them.

"If you don't accept thanks for saving my life… then I will feel insulted," he half-bantered, though Katara was certain he actually meant what he said.

And so, she grinned and got up with Aang's help, saying:

"Well, let's just call the score between us even."

_THE END_

/

_HA! FINISHED! I hope you liked what you read, and that it was a fun ride, even if one of the most volatile characters of the group was out of commission. :p _

_So, stay tuned to the end of this, because I got an important question for y'all- but before that, review replies, for both chapter 5 and 6! _

_The Alliegator: Thank you! And lo and behold, I'm done! I am happy you like the way I write the characters. _

_Ayame of the Azuma: Cliffy? That was no cliffy. She already SAID she'd heal him :P _

_Things24: Yes, pretty much :( _

_Dragowitch250: the whole healing issue with ATLA canon isn't very well explained. But the concept behind this, is that the Spirit Water can be turned into a 'cure-all' if all four elements in it are energized into a glowy 'healing state' so to speak, provided a master bender can keep the Spirit Water from evaporating AND bend it properly._

_AnnaAza: Thanks!_

_Catstop: Done!_

_Omolara: Yes! That is exactly what I wanted conveyed! Strong friendship is a very rare thing- and being emotionally constipated (as Mai tends to be) doesn't mean you don't love. _

_**AND NOW FOR THE QUESTION: **_

_I kind of like writing ATLA stories, and there is a vast array of possibilities of where to go from now on. I was thinking something along the lines of 'Finding Ursa' and writing a 'next generation' fic. Complete with a new avatar. (he/she's going to be in the Water Tribe next, right?)BUT, with all the canon cast still being main characters. _

_OR, if you have any other ideas, feel free to throw them at me now, while the wheel is still turning. XD _

_So, that's that for now! Hope you liked it and reward me by dropping a note, and a suggestion about the next ATLA fic. ;) _

_See y'all soon!_


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